8 5 6 L GARTH 
It is that this plant was Formerly cultivated in the 
fields in feveral parts of England, for the dyer’s life ; and 
particularly in Glouceftevfhire, where the common people 
frequently gathered the florets, and dried them, to give a 
colour to'their puddings and cheefecakes; but, by putting 
in too great a quantity, they acquired a cathartic quality. 
3f tlvis plant was ever cultivated here in great quantity, it 
is furprifing how it came to be fo totally uegleded, as that 
at prelent there are not the leaf! traces to be met with, 
in any part of England, of its ever having been cultivated ; 
infomuch, that the commodity is fearcely known, except 
to thofe who deal in it. The quantity annually confumed 
in England is fo great, as to make it a conliderable article 
of trade,, fo that it might be well worthy of public atten¬ 
tion ; for, although the feeds feldom come to perfection 
in England, yet thefe might be procured from abroad, 
and the plants would conftantly produce the flower, which 
is the only part ufed in dyeing. It appears from Turner’s 
Herbal, that the baftatd faffron or fafflower was cultivated 
in England in 1351. The information to which Mr. Miller 
alludes, is confirmed by Mr. Houghton in his Collections: 
wherein he fays, that Henry Hall, Efq. relates (Nov. 14, 
1683), that twenty-five acres, in the vale of Evefham, in 
Gloucefterlhire, was fowed with this feed ; tiie foil a mix¬ 
ed fand, of about 15s. an acre value; it bore a crop of 
wheat the year before, was drelfed for barley, and had a 
harrowing extraordinary. This piece of ground was taken 
for two years, by an adventurer in this feed, at the rate of 
:5b per acre, in conlideration that this plant is faid to be 
a srreat imnoverifiier of land. He fold the flowers in Lon¬ 
don for ioi. per pound ; a price, he faid, much below his 
expectation; he gained above 30s. per acre clear profit, 
excepting the price of the feed; but of this there was a 
plentiful return, (about 140 bufliets,) which, had it been 
well managed, would have amounted to a conliderable 
value ; for want of experience it was too foon gathered, 
and at a greater charge than needed, neither was it fo 
Carefully cured as it ought, which much impaired the 
price. The common people took it lor faffron, and pri¬ 
vately Hole conliderable quantities, and ufed it in their 
puddings, cakes, and even bread ; but finding in it a pur¬ 
gative quality, which to home was very troublefome, they 
Sold their remaining flock to an apothecary. Mr. Hall 
fowed fonts of the feed in February, and fome about the 
middle of March ; both thrived very well, flowered, and 
was fit to gather in July, and was gathered before the 20th 
of that month : by which means women and children could 
be had in plenty to gather the flowers, before gleaning 
time came on. He alfo found that plants from whicli the 
flower was not gathered, produced feed to the full as good 
as what is brought from Germany. And that, though it 
certainly impovei illies the ground, yet that the piece which 
was fown with fafflower, did, the year following, bear a 
good crop of oats, and, had it been fallowed and well 
drelfeu the third year, would have been fit for wheat or 
fafflower again. He adds, that turkies greedily fed on the 
feed, and in a fliort time became very fat; that geefe fed 
on it, and grew fat much fooner than thofe of their neigh¬ 
bours, that fed on other grain ; and, that a colt, eating 
of this feed, recovered in a fliort time'from great poverty 
to a very good condition. 
This plant is cultivated in great plenty, in fome parts 
of Germany, where the feeds conftantly come to perfec¬ 
tion ; and the following is a (hort account oi their method 
of cultivating it: 
The ground in which they propofe to fow the carthamus, 
has always a double fallow given to it, fit ft to deftroy the 
weeds, and afterwards to make it fine. They make choke 
of their lighted. land, and fuch as is clear from couch-grafs, 
and other troublefome weeds. After the land lias been 
f.llovyed a (ummer and winter, in which time they give it 
four ploughing*, and harrow it between each, to break 
the rlods, and pulverize it. In the latter end of March 
they give it the lad ploughing, when they lay it in nar¬ 
row furrow ;; of about five feet or a little more, leaving a 
fnace of two feet between each , then they harrow thefe 
A M U S. 
lands to make them level, and after it is finiflied they fow 
the feeds in the following manner : with a fmall plough, 
they draw four (hallow furrows in each land, at near a 
foot and a half diftance, into which they fcatter the feeds 
thinly ; then with a harrow, whofe teeth are little more 
than one inch long, they draw the earth into the drills to 
cover the feeds; after this, they draw a roller over the 
ground, to fmooth and fettle it. When the plants are come 
up, fo as to be diftinguUhed, they hoe the ground to de- 
ftroy the weeds ; and, at this firfl operation, where the 
plants happen to be clofe, they cut up the leaft promifing, 
leaving them all (ingle, at the diftance of three or four 
inches ; which they l’uppofe futfleient for their growth, till 
the fecond time of hoeing, which mult be performed in 
about five weeks after the firfl; in which they ate guid¬ 
ed by the growth of the weeds, for, as this work is per¬ 
formed with a Dutch hoe, fo they never fuffer the weeds, 
to grow to any fize before they cut them. They give a 
third hoeing to the plants about five or fix weeks after the 
fecond ; w hich makes the ground fufficiently clean till the 
carthamus is pulled up. 
The good quality of this commodity is chiefly in the co¬ 
lour, which fliould be of a bright faftron colour, and here¬ 
in that which is cultivated in England often fails; for, if 
there happens much rain during tine time the plants are in 
flower, it will caufe the florets.to change to a dark or dirty 
yellow, which will alfo befal that which is gathered when 
there is any moifture remaining upon it; therefore, great 
care rauft be taken not to gather it till the dew is quite 
dried off, nor fliould it be preffed together till it has been 
dried on the kiln. The manner of doing this being the 
fame as for the true faffron, we (hall not mention it here, 
but refer the reader to the article Crocus. „ 
It is cultivated at prefent in many parts of Europe, and 
alfo in the Levant, whence great quantities are annually 
imported into England, for dyeing and painting. In Spain 
this plant is cultivated in their gardens, as marigolds arc 
in England, to put into their fouus, olios, and other difhes* 
to give them a colour. The Jews alfo are very fond of 
this, and mix it in mod of their viands ; and it is very 
probable they were the peifons who firft carried the feeds 
of this plant to America, and taught the inhabitants the 
life of it, for it is now as commonly ufed by the English 
there, as in any part of Europe. This plant may be ad¬ 
mitted to have a place in the borders of large gardens, 
where it will add to the.variety, during the time of its con¬ 
tinuance in flower, which is commonly two months, or ten 
weeks; for, if the feeds are fown in the beginning of April, 
the firft flowers will appear in the middle of July at far- 
theft; and there will be a fuceeflion of flowers on the fide 
branches, till the end of September, or in mild warm fea- 
fons till the middle of October, during which time the 
plants will not be deftitute of flowers; which, being of a 
bright faffron colour, make a pretty appearance ; and if 
the plants are fupported to prevent their being broken, 
or blown down by the wind, they will not interfere with 
the other flowers, becaufe they have a regular upright 
growth. When they are cultivated for this purpofe, the 
feeds fliould be fown in the places where the plants are de- 
ligned to remain, becaufe they do not bear tranfplanting 
well ; therefore, three or four feeds thqitld be (own in 
each patch, left any of them fhould fail; and when the 
plants are grown fo ftrong as to be out of danger, the molt 
promifing in each patch Ihpuld be left, and the others 
pulled up, that they may not draw or injure thole which 
are to Hand. 
If the feeds of the fecond and third forts be fcjwn in au¬ 
tumn, the plants will flower early in the following fum- 
raer, fo that there will be a certainty of good leeds. They 
may be fown in any fituation, and will require no other 
culture, but to keep them clean from weeds, and thin 
the plants where they are too dole. There is a variety of 
this, which grows much taller ; the heads alfo are larger, 
and the leaveTare placed clofer upon the (talks, it was 
found by Tonrnefort in the Levant, The remaining fpe- 
cies are not propagated in England, See Atkactyms. 
CARTEL 
